Air temperatures over the north pole are refusing to cool off like normal, and sea ice levels at this time of year are the lowest on record since satellite monitoring began in 1979. This map from ClimateReanalyzer.org at the University of Maine shows temperatures in the Arctic over 30 degrees above normal!

The green line on this graph shows the "normal" temperature over the course of the year, and the red line shows the observed "daily mean temperature of the Arctic."

Anything below the blue line is below freezing. While those of us in Houston would consider current temperatures in the teens to be cold, they are nowhere near as cold as the sub-zero temps often observed at this time year.